The Rest Is Silence, written and directed by Nae Caranfil, is a Romanian movie about the birth of filmmaking. We follow young Grig Brezianu, who makes silent films and is eager to shoot a movie about the Romanian War of Independence, but he needs a financial backer. An eccentric millionaire, Leon Negrescu, loves live theatre, but he is quickly won over by cinema and agrees to fund Grig’s movie. The last five or ten minutes of the film were a letdown, but The Rest Is Silence is both funny and intelligent, the escapades of the cast and crew are entertaining and the cinematography captures pre-World War I Europe.

To read more of Kris’s reviews from the 28 Vancouver International Film Festival visit her Geist blog at geist.com/blog/kris.